1996 Argentine Grand Prix
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 3 of 16 in the 1996 Formula One season | |||
 | |||
| Date | 7 April 1996 | ||
| Location | Autódromo Oscar Alfredo Gálvez, Buenos Aires, Argentina | ||
| Course | Permanent race track | ||
| Course length | 4.259 km (2.657 mi) | ||
| Distance | 72 laps, 306.648 km (191.296 mi) | ||
| Weather | Dry with temperatures reaching up to 21 °C (70 °F)[1] | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Williams-Renault | ||
| Time | 1:30.346 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |
 Jean Alesi | Benetton-Renault | |
| Time | 1:29.413 on lap 66 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | Williams-Renault | ||
| Second | Williams-Renault | ||
| Third | Benetton-Renault | ||
The 1996 Argentine Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 7 April 1996 at Autódromo Oscar Alfredo Gálvez, Buenos Aires. Despite suffering a bout of food poisoning, Damon Hill made it three wins out of three, with Jacques Villeneuve helping Williams complete their second one-two of the season. Jos Verstappen scored his only point of the season, Andrea Montermini his only finish of the season.
Pedro Diniz was involved in two major incidents during the race. First he collided with Luca Badoer, whose Forti was flipped and landed upside down in the gravel, forcing the marshals to bring out the safety car. Trackside marshals were heavily criticized for their delay in aiding Badoer's escape from the car; ultimately the Italian was forced to crawl out from underneath the Forti (the explanation for which was later given by the marshals that an uncharacteristic delay in the safety car picking up the race leader had caused confusion on the trackside). Diniz managed to continue and made a pit stop as the safety car was preparing to pull in - only to retire when he came back onto the circuit and his Ligier burst into flames, because a safety-valve in the fuel tank had jammed open, with the safety car staying out for three extra laps as a result. The UK's The Sun newspaper used the memorable headline "Diniz in the oven" for their report on this incident.
Classification
Qualifying
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Time | Gap | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 |  Damon Hill |
Williams-Renault | 1:30.346 | |||
| 2 | 1 |  Michael Schumacher |
Ferrari | 1:30.598 | +0.252 | ||
| 3 | 6 |  Jacques Villeneuve |
Williams-Renault | 1:30.907 | +0.561 | ||
| 4 | 3 | Jean Alesi |
Benetton-Renault | 1:31.038 | +0.692 | ||
| 5 | 4 |  Gerhard Berger |
Benetton-Renault | 1:31.262 | +0.916 | ||
| 6 | 11 |  Rubens Barrichello |
Jordan-Peugeot | 1:31.404 | +1.058 | ||
| 7 | 17 |  Jos Verstappen |
Footwork-Hart | 1:31.615 | +1.269 | ||
| 8 | 7 |  Mika Häkkinen |
McLaren-Mercedes | 1:31.801 | +1.455 | ||
| 9 | 8 | David Coulthard |
McLaren-Mercedes | 1:32.001 | +1.655 | ||
| 10 | 2 | Eddie Irvine |
Ferrari | 1:32.058 | +1.712 | ||
| 11 | 15 | Heinz-Harald Frentzen |
Sauber-Ford | 1:32.130 | +1.784 | ||
| 12 | 9 | Olivier Panis |
Ligier-Mugen-Honda | 1:32.177 | +1.831 | ||
| 13 | 18 |  Ukyo Katayama |
Tyrrell-Yamaha | 1:32.407 | +2.061 | ||
| 14 | 21 | Tarso Marques |
Minardi-Ford | 1:32.502 | +2.156 | ||
| 15 | 12 | Martin Brundle |
Jordan-Peugeot | 1:32.696 | +2.350 | ||
| 16 | 19 | Mika Salo |
Tyrrell-Yamaha | 1:32.903 | +2.557 | ||
| 17 | 14 | Johnny Herbert |
Sauber-Ford | 1:33.256 | +2.910 | ||
| 18 | 10 | Pedro Diniz |
Ligier-Mugen-Honda | 1:33.424 | +3.078 | ||
| 19 | 20 |  Pedro Lamy |
Minardi-Ford | 1:33.727 | +3.381 | ||
| 20 | 16 | Ricardo Rosset |
Footwork-Hart | 1:33.752 | +3.406 | ||
| 21 | 22 |  Luca Badoer |
Forti-Ford | 1:34.830 | +4.484 | ||
| 22 | 23 | Andrea Montermini |
Forti-Ford | 1:35.651 | +5.305 | ||
| 107% time: 1:36.670 | |||||||
Race
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | Damon Hill |
Williams-Renault | 72 | 1:54:55.322 | 1 | 10 |
| 2 | 6 | Jacques Villeneuve |
Williams-Renault | 72 | +12.167 | 3 | 6 |
| 3 | 3 | Jean Alesi |
Benetton-Renault | 72 | +14.754 | 4 | 4 |
| 4 | 11 | Rubens Barrichello |
Jordan-Peugeot | 72 | +55.131 | 6 | 3 |
| 5 | 2 | Eddie Irvine |
Ferrari | 72 | +1:04.991 | 10 | 2 |
| 6 | 17 | Jos Verstappen |
Footwork-Hart | 72 | +1:08.913 | 7 | 1 |
| 7 | 8 | David Coulthard |
McLaren-Mercedes | 72 | +1:13.400 | 9 | |
| 8 | 9 | Olivier Panis |
Ligier-Mugen-Honda | 72 | +1:14.295 | 12 | |
| 9 | 14 | Johnny Herbert |
Sauber-Ford | 71 | +1 Lap | 17 | |
| 10 | 23 | Andrea Montermini |
Forti-Ford | 69 | +3 Laps | 22 | |
| Ret | 4 | Gerhard Berger |
Benetton-Renault | 56 | Suspension | 5 | |
| Ret | 1 | Michael Schumacher |
Ferrari | 46 | Broken wing | 2 | |
| Ret | 20 | Pedro Lamy |
Minardi-Ford | 39 | Transmission | 19 | |
| Ret | 19 | Mika Salo |
Tyrrell-Yamaha | 36 | Throttle | 16 | |
| Ret | 12 | Martin Brundle |
Jordan-Peugeot | 34 | Collision | 15 | |
| Ret | 21 | Tarso Marques |
Minardi-Ford | 33 | Collision | 14 | |
| Ret | 15 | Heinz-Harald Frentzen |
Sauber-Ford | 32 | Spun off | 11 | |
| Ret | 10 | Pedro Diniz |
Ligier-Mugen-Honda | 29 | Fire | 18 | |
| Ret | 18 | Ukyo Katayama |
Tyrrell-Yamaha | 28 | Transmission | 13 | |
| Ret | 16 | Ricardo Rosset |
Footwork-Hart | 24 | Oil pump | 20 | |
| Ret | 22 | Luca Badoer |
Forti-Ford | 24 | Collision | 21 | |
| Ret | 7 | Mika Häkkinen |
McLaren-Mercedes | 19 | Throttle | 8 | |
Source:[2] | |||||||
Championship standings after the race
- Bold text indicates who still has a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion.
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- Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References
- ↑ Weather info for the 1996 Argentine Grand Prix at Weather Underground
- ↑ "1996 Argentine Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 1 November 2014. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
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